This is the story of ao.com social media strategy. It's all started with a small Facebook page of a company that sells washing machines, but became a much bigger thing. Being the only brand advertising for more than 2 years, Yossi and the team saw a big brand impact just from Facebook activity. Check more of their content in this presentation

1. ao.com – (Appliances Online)
It all starts with the customer
Yossi Erdman @yossierd
Head of brand and social media
ao.com @ao

2. Who Am I?
Usually at this point I present my self to the
crowd, but it’s the slide share version…
So I’ve attached picture
of us instead..

3. Who Am I?
Anyway, I’m Yossi
Erdman, head of brand
and social media for
ao.com.
I work here for 4.5 years
now and love this
company and the journey
we’ve done in the last few
years..

4. Who Am I?
If you prefer to watch this presentation (April 2014
ver) instead of reading, you can watch this video:
http://youtu.be/q1CAj6qwg00?t=24s

5. Who Am I?
Last note before starting..
If you have any questions or you
just want to talk,
feel free to tweet me: @Yossierd

6. Who Am I?
Last note before starting..
If you have any questions or you
just want to talk,
feel free to tweet me: @Yossierd
Or email me here: yossi.erdman@ao.com

7. ao.com is the UK largest Online White goods retailer.
Founded in 2000 by John Roberts.
Part of AO world PLC
Who are we?

8. Recently (Oct 2014) Launched
in Germany
Who are we?

9. Our challenge
To make washing machines - Interesting

10. Our challenge - Education
What’s the motivation
of visiting a store?

11. Our challenge – Education #2
Can you really take
Your produce home?

12. What can we offer?
Same day / Next day delivery
Best prices – Including price match
Huge range of products
Link to video:
https://youtu.be/wTBG58L_bVQ

13. Why social media?
Real time – Fast pace
Engagement - Immediate feedback
Great platform to try ideas
Relatively low budgets – not many approvals

14. Why social media?
And most
important:
You can post
pictures of
yourself J

15. What do we sell (the social media way)?
Products that will
make your head
spin..

16.
Washing
machines..
We sell:

17. Dishwashers..
We sell:

18. Fridge freezers..
We sell:

19. We sell:
Fridges..
We sell:

20. We sell:
Ovens and
Cookers
We sell:

21. TV and home entertainment..
We sell:

22. We sell:
Can you guess the movie?

23. Small
appliances..
We sell:

24. Social Media is essential part
of the branded mix
1,675,000 fans
PR
TV
adver+sing
Online
videos
35,000 followers

25. Social media impact:
External (customers)
Internal: Culture / Customer service

26. Let’s “Engage”..
Delivering business
Messages in a “fun” way..
The challenge:
Cashback promotion..
On ao Facebook we try to colour our
messages, And entertain our
customers instead of just telling them
what we do..

27. Let’s “Engage”..
Cashback promotion..
How much cash have we
“frozen” for you?
Delivering business
Messages in a “fun” way..
The challenge:
Cashback promotion..
So we created a competition with “Frozen” money. If you can guess
how much money we frozen (same as the cashback we give), you can
win the fridge. You can watch here: http://youtu.be/uL361QOuCHY

28. Let’s “Engage”..
Don’t worry – we didn’t do any money laundering..

29. “Ducks are the new cats.. “
Let’s “Engage”..

30. Video on Facebook is taking over..
Baking with Neff oven..
High Reach
Lots of views
High engagement
Video link:
Rhubab Dance

31. Video on Facebook is taking over..
Use of videos
Unique content creation
for the platform
Video link:
Maddie Mince Pie

32. Video on Facebook is taking over..
Significant viewing times
(also for auto play)
Video link:
British Sandwich Week

33. Does size matters?
How many items of clothing are in the washer?
(tweet to @ao)
Video link:
Zanussi Washer comp

34. What
do
we
sell?
Basically,
pre=y
boring
stuff..
Customer video reviews

35. Customer video reviews
Video link:
Customer review video

36. Customers pictures..
Every Friday, as part of our weekly
competitions live stream we ask fans
to submit pictures.. Sometimes they
are funny J

37. Customers pictures..
Sometimes they are bit flattering J

38. Live stream
Every Friday, we are calling our winners, on
a Facebook live stream – and let them know
they won. We do it for more than 3 years
now. Consistency is very important for us,
it’s not a “one off” campaign.

39. Live stream
Every Friday, we are calling our
winners, on a Facebook live stream –
and let them know they won. We do it
for more than 3 years now.
Consistency is very important for us,
it’s not a “one off” campaign.
If you fancy a sample – watch one
here: http://youtu.be/KEo6NwcPy1w?t=33m24s

40. Let’s see some results
When Facebook was our only brand advertising tool..
0
20,000
40,000
60,000
80,000
100,000
120,000
140,000
160,000
180,000
200,000
-­‐
200,000
400,000
600,000
800,000
1,000,000
1,200,000
1,400,000
1,600,000
1/8/2012
3/8/2012
5/8/2012
7/8/2012
9/8/2012
11/8/2012
1/8/2013
3/8/2013
5/8/2013
7/8/2013
9/8/2013
11/8/2013
1/8/2014
3/8/2014
5/8/2014
FB
fans
V.
Weekly
Branded
Traffic
Na1onal
TV
campaign
FB
Fans
6
per.
Mov.
Avg.
(Total
Branded
Sessions)
Facebook
ac+vity
has
a
big
impact
on
brand
searches
and
branded
traffic

41. Let’s see some results
From Nov 2012 to Aug 2013:
• AO Branded traffic up 154%
Branded = direct, ao.com searches
• Branded sales up %128
• Repeated customers up %20
No other branded activity was done in this period

42. New Trends
Direct response activity:
Total Reach – 1,136,128
Total Engagement – 61,833
Link Clicks – 48,924
Engagement % - 5.4%
Mobile
75%
Desktop
25%
Device
Split
Based
on
Clicks

43. New Trends
Direct response activity:
Mobile
85%
Desktop
15%
Device Split
Based on Clicks

44. New Trends
Direct response activity – Multi product ads:

45. Website Integration

46. Website Integration

47. Focus on real people

48. Focus on real people

49. The customer’s voice
Latest TV
Advert,
The customers
Were recruited
Via Facebook

50. The customer’s voice
Latest TV
Advert,
Customer
focused

51. The customer’s voice
Link to
Watch
The
advert
Denise

52. Customer Service
Social Media team
Call centre
Facebook team
Our
call
centre
is
now
answering
all
customers’
queries
on
Facebook.
Marke+ng
team
(6
people)
is
the
crea+ve
behind
the
promo+ons
and
FB
adver+sing

53. Customer Service

54. Customer Service
Not just on our website..

55. Customer Service
Not just on our website..
This feedback was left
about one of our drivers,
How do we make them
understand that customers
can write feedback about
them immediately.
The customer service team
came with a surprising
solution…

56. Customer Service
Drivers Feedback book

57. Customer
Service
Drivers Feedback book
This
book
is
being
published
every
2
weeks
and
include
selected
feedback
about
our
drivers
that
was
posted
on
Facebook,
trustpilot
and
other
sites.
We
are
pos+ng
it
directly
to
the
home
of
everyone
who
is
men+on
in
the
book.
Now
imagine
your
wife
geRng
a
book
when
you
have
a
bad
feedback
in.
Pre=y
embarrassing,
no?
the
impact
is
amazing.

58. Basically,
pre=y
boring
stuff..
Customer Service
Drivers Feedback book

59. Customer Service
Extremely detailed feedback..
As an immediate result of
the book – we now see
many drivers talk to the
customers and ask them to
post a feedback to
Facebook.
The drivers are giving the
customers their crew
number, so the team who
writes the book will know
to find them (the drivers)
faster J

60. Customer Service
Extremely detailed feedback..

61. Customer Service
Personal Letters
If a customer takes
times and writes us
an amazing feedback
on social media, why
shouldn’t we make
an effort and thank
them for that?
Maybe we will even
convince them to
shout about us to all
their friends and
family..

62. Personal Letters

63. Personal Letters
So, our CEO (John
Roberts), decided
he want to send a
personal, hand
signed, letter to
everyone who
writes a feedback
on our Facebook.
Our team writes
the letters, and JR
signs them.

64. Personal Letters

65. Customer Service
Personal Letters
The customers
who get the
letters are very
excited – and
they post them
back on
Facebook!
Free content,
huh? J

66. Customer Service
Personal Letters

67. Customer Service
Personal letters:
also to employees
who give
Exceptional service

68. Apologise when needed
And keep it
personalised..

69. Apologise when needed
And keep it
personalised..

70. Don’t forget to try.. Even with your partners
We want to finish with a story that will
encourage you to use your customers:
The next video review was sent to us
by a customer as part of a competition.
We asked people to create reviews for
their current kitchen appliances, for
their chance to get a new one to review
and keep. The result was unexpected,
and encouraged us to keep trying,
more and more new things J Watch
here: http://youtu.be/YkY2b-5nFqU

71. Yossi Erdman @yossierd
Head of brand and social media
ao.com @ao
Thank you..
Hope you enjoyed it!
and there is much more..
If you have any questions, or feedback,
feel free to drop us a note. Yossi.